


A Man's Metal Heart

by zhennie



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-20
Updated: 2012-06-20
Packaged: 2017-11-08 05:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/439497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhennie/pseuds/zhennie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark's heart is made of metal. </p>
<p>It's never enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Man's Metal Heart

He has a metal heart.

Well, no shit he has a metal heart. It's kind of hard to miss, like a neon sign proclaiming 'THIS IS TONY STARK. HE HAS NO HEART.' The blue glowing light is in the middle of his chest, after all, shining like some sort of twisted flashlight, a feat of modern technology and his own genius, surpassing the boundaries of human possibility, blah blah blah. Tony's heard it all before. But that's just it. The arc reactor--it's a product of tech and genius. Metal and heat and sheer brain power. That's not what a heart is made of. Tony may be a fucked up guy, but he knows this. Hearts belong to people like Steve or Pepper, good people who truly care about people, people like the Avengers, Stark Industries, the cashier at the supermarket, hell, even Tony himself. Despite everything, they have faith in humanity, and that is how Tony knows that they have hearts.

Pepper once told him he had a heart. She had his first terrible arc reactor put in a glass case, stating so, proclaming: 'Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart.' Well, she wasn't wrong. He did have a heart. It was just made of metal. It wasn't real, like the rest of theirs. He built himself from the ground up, and sometimes, Tony thought that if he were to strip himself down, past the soft flesh and muscle, he would be made of circutry. It was a bit ironic. He wasn't the man in the iron suit. He was an iron man inside a flesh suit. He was a fake. Tony could play pretend and try to be human--to be good--but in the end, he couldn't escape the truth.

He tried. Oh, how Tony did try. He was not the type of person to give up. Tony Stark donated thousands of money to charity. Tony Stark started scholarships for underprivileged children. Iron Man saved New York, the United States, the entire Earth. Tony Stark redefined the world of engineering. Iron Man helped New York rebuild itself and then some. Tony Stark invited the Avengers to live with him in Stark Tower.

None of it was enough.

If anything, inviting the Avengers to live in Stark Tower only cemented Tony's self-loathing. There was Bruce, a walking time bomb of a green rage monster. And yet, his concern was for those around him when he hulked out, the same people who had once called for his containment and disposal. He was pretty much a saint, really. The man even fed the pigeons. Tony knew, because JARVIS had told him so. There was Clint, who was a pain in the ass and could be a real bastard sometimes. But he was also the thoughtful one, the one who noticed small details and remembered them later on, who could be counted on to remember favorite flavors and takeout orders and leave surprising little presents. There was Natasha, who had her fair share of blood on her hands. And yet, she must have saved more lives than she took, protecting those she could with the same fierceness she used to kill and the same determination she took to every task she undertook. There was Thor, who could be arrogant and overconfident and quick to act first and think later. But his strength was not only physical. He was just and kind, and he was the first to come of any of their defenses and the first to see the good in anyone, whether it be a guy off the street or Loki.

And then there was Steve. Steve, Captain America, the epitome of the best things in the world. He was everything Tony was not, heart and justice and sheer earnestness. He was real in a way Tony could never be. The man might not have even believed it was possible, if he hadn't been witness to it himself. He was just so good, they were all so good.

How was Tony supposed to compete with that, his metal heart against their flesh ones? He couldn't replace it. He could make his machines bigger and better, and throw the world onto its head, but he couldn't improve on humanity. He could replicate whatever he wanted, but he couldn't create. He could never be more than metal and wires.

He and his metal heart could never compete.


End file.
